Company News

GPC Biotech AG said that the new Germany-based biotechnology company that will be created following its merger with Agennix Inc of Texas should have enough cash to fund operations into the second quarter of 2010.

NicOx SA said it is moving ahead with plans to file a new drug application (NDA) with the US Food and Drug Administration for its anti-inflammatory agent, naproxcinod, which has completed Phase 3 trials in patients with osteoarthritis.

Epigenomics AG has announced plans to work with the Munich Technical University and clinicians in Bavaria to test the viability of a blood-based biomarker for detecting precancerous lesions. The German government is helping to fund the project.

Sanofi Pasteur has received an order from the US government valued at $190 million to produce a vaccine against the A/H1N1 virus, which has been declared to have pandemic flu potential.

GW Pharmaceuticals Plc has applied to regulatory authorities in the UK and Spain to have its cannabinoid pharmaceutical product approved for the treatment of spasticity due to multiple sclerosis. This follows positive results from a recent Phase 3 trial.

TiGenix NV of Belgium said its application to the European Medicines Agency to launch a new cell-based product in Europe for cartilage repair is proceeding according to schedule. If approved, it would be launched at specialist centres in Europe.

Algeta ASA of Oslo, Norway, outlined a strategy for the development and commercialisation of its new radiopharmaceutical, Alpharadin, in its financial report for the first 2009 quarter.

Cancer Research UK has agreed to conduct a first-in-man study of a novel anti-cancer drug owned by GlaxoSmithKline, but not currently a priority of the UK multinational.

Antisoma Plc has roughly doubled the cash available for developing its advanced products as the result of the sale of US rights to oral fludarabine, a cancer drug it acquired as part of an earlier takeover. The rights were sold to sanofi-aventis for $65 million.

The new chief executive officer of MediGene AG has said that partnering negotiations for the pancreatic cancer drug, EndoTAG-1, have reached an 'advanced stage' and management is weighing up its options.